Just in time for Halloween, something really scary

Fascism in America? This is interesting, because it's basically a video op-ed by philosopher Jason Stanley (Yale), drawing on his recent book. It's plainly true that Trump uses the rhetorical ploys Stanley describes, though I'm less sure that equates to fascism, as opposed to just dangerously illiberal demagoguery (there's a lot of political space on the far right, from fascism to illiberalism to authoritarianism). So far, at least, all of Trump's policies have been implemented legally, and he actually hasn't defied any adverse court orders, despite all the bluster. Fascist rhetoric does not itself make for fascism. As my colleagues Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq have shown--focusing more on institutions than rhetoric--backsliding into an illiberal or authoritarian regime has happened in many places and remains a real possibility, including here. Whether that will take the distinctively fascist form is less clear.

UPDATE: Professor Stanley writes: "I completely agree with your post. I am very careful in my book to restrict my analysis to rhetoric - my book is about fascist propaganda and ideology, not fascist policies. I tried to keep the video so restricted as well - to the rhetoric, not the policies."